James Hamilton- Uncropped

Gonna keep an eye out for this one- one of my favorite photographers of all time! Absolute master portraitist- bar none! Back in the day I would run to grab a copy of the Village Voice each and every week just to find the portrait by James Hamilton. He would use every millimeter of the 35mm frame to maximum effect. Every shot was a revelation, every shot its own master class in photography- never understood why he wasn't one of the first names mentioned when anyone discussed photographic portraiture. He also managed to squeeze more quality out of a 35mm frame than seemed humanly possible, his photographs seemed to be taken with a 4X5! Everyone has a lot to learn from this guy...

Paul & Pearl

Photo: © Stan Banos

I see shit like this all the time. Yeah, I know- how can you be so cold, cruel, clinical? This scenario was less than a block away from work this Monday morning. And no, I don't always take a picture of these hapless individuals (perhaps I should to make it more 'democratic'). Fact is, I stopped for two reasons: a) it had a possible photo opportunity (there, I said it) and b) I feared she might be in the process of an OD, or... actually dead. After years of seeing people in like positions (practically daily), you get a sense as to which are just working it off, and those which just might be in trouble. This was such a singularly odd positioning however (ram rod straight, elbows bent as if in preparation of some perversely aberrant push up), I decided better safe than sorry. I approached, took the photo, called out (received no response), called out louder and gave her a nudge... Finally, movement as she repositioned herself; she's alive, don't have to call 911. I'm back on my way to work, where people with disabilities await.

FWIW, I've written extensively on the ethics of taking photographs of this type. Honestly, you can make a worthy argument either way. In short, the way I think- take it when in doubt, and then decide if it should see the light of day. Photographers are often told the adage that our work should encompass our everyday lives, I already ignore don't photograph 99% of the pain I see in these streets every day, wouldn't I be in complete denial if I didn't reveal at least a small percentage photographically?  

Editing the photo I get to thinking how this was someone's child, who laughed and had dreams while she too sat amongst her peers in grade school. Somehow, it went tragically, woefully wrong. And the streets throb with their presence...

Open Your Mind- Michio Kaku

 Are we alone? "Of course, what took you so long," Michio Kaku.

Been a while since last posted. So here's something to think about, starting at... 15:35. Michio (who now believes the burden of proof has shifted to proving UFO's are man made) asks us- "What if they are hundreds, thousands, millions of years more advanced than us?" That's always been the thing that ticks me off- STOP thinking like a primitive simian hominid!!! They sure as hell don't! Forget the landing on the White House lawn BS. And forever refrain from the condescending (I'll cover my ass every which way as politely as possible) non answer- well, they probably do exist but they're so far away, yada, yada, yada... 

The way they think, live and travel is not beyond our imaginings- but it is well beyond our present technology and understanding. "Open your mind-" one hundred fifty years ago, trans oceanic travel measured in hours was a laughable pipedream, think of what thousands of years could achieve (precluding self destruction)... then think another million to our current 6!

PS- 38:00 also quite interesting...

Now, That's An Audience!

I was twelve and still remember just how rhythmic and radical this sounded next to anything that ever came before it! The same that that rad audience was thinking at song's end...

Serendipity

Recently, I talked about the difficulty I experienced sequencing and editing the photos for my most recent long term project. The day after I received a copy of the finished product, I came upon a post on Conscientious, and lo and behold- advice on how to edit and sequence a photobook so that it has a certain, unique narrative flow. And although we expressed it somewhat differently, and I'm not sure if I can claim success in Mr. Colberg's eyes- it was exactly what I was trying to convey, and exactly how I went about doing it to the best of my admittedly limited ability!

Making Book

Usually when I've made my photobooks and zines, they are 3-4 day affairs (of 3-4 hrs work ea) made during a sustained burst of energy. And they usually accomplish their goal of illustrating their singular, selected topic. This endeavor was different, it encompassed a larger time frame, encompassing a larger range of issues that affected and changed the state of a city from pre thru post Covid. I've done stuff on San Francisco (and Covid) before, and you've probably seen most of these pictures before (although it does contain around a dozen new mages). But this particular project encompasses more diverse, disparate influences, incl: crime, homelessness, addiction, Covid, technology, employment, etc. It's a disturbing if uneven glimpse at a steady deluge of conflicting plagues that beset this once thriving city.

Include too many photos of one particular topic or issue and you can go top heavy on tangents that make it hard to reintegrate, not enough and they can seem like distractions or a greatest hits compilation. Maintaining a sense of balance was a constant consideration; I could have shown more 'depressing' images for sure, but one grows weary of that quickly. So exactly how many photos depicting various aspects, negative and otherwise, does one intersperse to sustain a diversity of interest without betraying the topic at hand, one basically illustrating the downfall of a community at large? 

Editing this book was ironically similar to writing a short story, although the analogy is far from perfect. I wanted some sense of narrative, the photographs being the sentences, and how you display them, the punctuation. You can bend and formulate words, sentences, paragraphs to your liking to better fit your storyline as far as pace, sequencing and emotional narrative. It's harder with a series of set images meant to exist as independent structures- your options are more limited, basically: where and when do you present them (in the storyline and on the page), how large do you present them and how do you present them, solely or in groups? Those are your major story telling options in a book of photographs- besides the actual content within the photos themselves. And no, I'm not getting into captions, since there are none.

Fortunately, by using Blurb's magazine format, one has more options as to how to present one's photos. Two horizontal photos on one page, a slightly larger solo, a full page vertical, and yes- a double truck horizontal spread. And this was my first venture using all the above for maximum impact.

Broken City! is my swan song to a second home that has been hopelessly left reeling by leaders, laws and attitudes comfortable enough to evade their own neglect. The pictures only hint at the world of hurt that plagues it, the colors way too pretty and cheerful- again, who would look otherwise? I myself now opt to take the bus to work rather than dodge the landmines of drug addled zombies, feces and detritus that blocks the way and wears-at-you-daily.* Seventies "Drop Dead, New York" was never in question of coming back, it was literally too big to fail, but a city of less than a million, with a downtown hollowed out to the core is a much more vulnerable, dubious animal.

*That's the very street (see 0:36) I used to walk everyday to work, and now bus, and that ain't no prize either 'cause Crazy also boards the bus (also the street where the photo on p.7 was taken). About 2 of ten passengers actually pay their bus fare; one time while waiting on a red light, an impatient passenger knocked out a window and casually jumped out- when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

Obscene, Yet...

Hilarious all the same. When your insecurity demands you separate yourself from your fellow man by seeing just how high you can stick your nose up your ass!

And uhh, speaking of Penthouses...

Portrait by...

I was immediately intrigued by the portraits that graced this very interesting interview. They seemed uncharacteristically... harsh, and intriguing- more in your face straightforward than your usual portrait of a well respected art icon in their latter years. By the second to last shot, yeah, I was sure- before having the last shot pretty much scream it out loud...

Photo:  ©...

A Future Darkly

Photo: © Stan Banos

One can make the argument that Dems and Repubs are two sides of the same coin- I've often made it myself. But truth is, had Gore won, there would have been no Iraq War- that was a complete, pure and unmitigated W/Cheney concoction of lies, lies and more lies that cost hundreds of thousands of innocent lives (not to mention a few of our own)... a trillion dollar plus debacle that is curiously never mentioned when it comes to the financial collapse of the aughts. 

I voted my heart in exactly one presidential election- yeah, I voted Nader in 2000; ya see where this is going. CA went for Gore so I can be 'absolved,' but then there was... Florida, where Gore lost to W by 537 votes, a state that cast almost 100,000 votes for Nader. And this year a Kennedy is running, no one I can get excited about, but together with unenthusiastic Joe's refusal to do the right thing and officially put the brakes on Israel's best imitation of genocide- he's voluntarily giving away the very votes in Michigan that got him in!

All this in a time when we have an outright wannabe Fascist, psycho manchild on the verge of all out dementia gearing up to put an end to our already paper thin semblance of a democracy. And even if good ol' tottering Joe manages to pull one out of a hat, no one is even talking about what to do when The Don calls in his chips and unleashes his minions for his last hurrah...